INDEX & INTRODUCTION

CHAPTERS
1. PROLOGUE
2. 7/21/43 TO 9/19/43 ORIENTATION
3. 9/21/43 TO 11/12/43 PING PONG, ST. IVES
4. 11/16/43 TO 1/1/44 EDINBURGH, HOLIDAYS
5. 1/6/44 TO 3/8/44 GEN. LEE’S TRAIN, CAPTAIN!
6. 3/14/44 TO 5/1/44 FIRE BOMB, PROXIMITY FUSES
7. 5/7/44 to 8/5/44 BATH, D DAY, BUZZ BOMBS
8. 8/8/44 TO 10/31/44 PHOTO LAB, GOODBYE JEAN
9. 11/1/44 TO 1/23/45 SCOTLAND TRIP, 2ND CHRISTMAS
10. 1/26/45 TO 4/25/45 SCOTLAND, HOSPITAL, WALES
11. 4/28/45 TO 7/1/45 VE DAY, GERMANY, PARIS
12. 7/2/45 TO 10/25/45 TENNIS, VJ DAY, MAJOR!
13. 10/26/45 TO 1/11/46 WEDDINGS, MEDAL, 3RD XMAS
14. 1/15/46 TO 3/22/46 UN ORG., STAY IN?, GO HOME!

INTRODUCTION: Here are the experiences, observations, and feelings
of a young US Army officer during 32 months of WW ll in London, as
related in selected daily letters to his beloved wife. Under censorship
requirements, there are no details of his work, or places visited, until
after VE Day, when more information is given. Highlights include fighting
fire from an incendiary bomb that fell on his apartment building, a trip
with Generals around England in a private train, defenses against the buzz
bomb attacks on London, a hospital stay with hepatitis, VE Day celebra-
tions, a trip to Germany and Paris, meeting US delegates to the UN organ-
ization conference, and finally coming home
.
SOME SAMPLE EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS:
From Nov. 16, 1943 “This is the Army” show: . . . . . . Are you all ready to
go to the show honey? I have one ticket only, but I’m sure if you promise
to keep quiet that I can smuggle you in with me. . . . . . . Our seats (or
rather, seat) are pretty good, right in the middle of the dress circle (first
balcony to you), and only a few rows from the front. . . . . . . Don’t mind that
ape on your left, that’s just the Saint, and although he looks and acts like a
wolf, he is really harmless. That blond god on your left is George . . . . . .
Look at the rank in the box over on our left, there’s enough brass to start
a war, and enough gold braid to finance it!

. . . . . The gal right in front of us is a Red Cross worker, I hope she takes
her hat off when the show starts. . . . . That’s sure a cute ATS officer down
there to our left. I’ve noticed that George has been eyeing her since we
came in, but I think that American captain sitting beside her has got him
scared out. Everyone is sure here tonight; RAF, Army, Navy, Marines,
enlisted men and women and officers all over the place, and there are a
lot of civilians too. I kind of like all the flags hanging around for decora-
tions, don’t you? On the side over there it looks like some American
soldier has pulled the American flag so it pretty well covers the Union
Jack, but then maybe it is just an accident.

There goes the bugle sounding “assembly”, kind of a novel idea for an
Army show, don’tyou think? The latest stragglers are coming in now,
and the orchestra is coming into the pit. . . .

. . . . . the lights are dimming, the curtain is going up, and “THIS IS
THE ARMY” is on its way. Since that gal in front of you won’t take
off her hat I guess I’ll have to describe the show for you. The boys are
sitting on a series of steps going up from the front of the stage. The
opening tune is “This is the Army Mr. Jones”, and theyreally can
sing it. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . Will you excuse me, I have to go powder my nose. Yes, it is OK
if you smoke. . . . . I couldn’t find a program for George, so he will
have to do without. Besides he is too busy trying to catch the eye of
that ATS officer. I still think that big captain has him scared out.
Looks like you weren’t the only one to light up, the place is fairly
foggy with smoke. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . The big hit of the evening is on now. It is Irving Berlin singing
“Oh how I hate to get up in the morning” (I can see his point). He
can’t sing for beans, but the applause he gets is really terrific. He
and the chorus sing his new song “My British Buddy” that he wrote
after he got over here and added to the show. . . . . . Now the finale
“This Time” is on, and the idea of the song is that we are going to
finish up the war right so we won’t have to do it again 25 years from
now. . . . . There went the curtain, and my palms are getting sore
from clapping. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . Shall we leave now, everyone else seems to have that same idea.
I’ll be darned, there goes that captain by himself, so he wasn’t with
the ATS officer at all. Look at George, he is so surprised that he doesn’t
know what to do. I guess he had given up hope and was caught off
guard. Oh well, she is gone now.

. . . . . Well darling, I hope you liked the show, I know I did. It’s too
bad your seat wasn’t so good, and you couldn’t see much. I hope I
explained it to you well enough so you enjoyed it too.

. . . . . Honey, if I should lose you in the blackout outside, I’ll meet
you again in my dreams tonight. I love you so much and want you
with me all the time. . . . All my love and kisses, Glenn

From May 8, 1945 VE Day: . . . . . Today and tomorrow are holidays
here, but we still have to keep a skeleton force on hand, and right
now I am the skeleton. I wandered about earlier this afternoon,
watching the festivities, but I couldn’t get into the correct mood
it seems, now if you had been with me, it would have been dif-
ferent. Anyway it was a sight to see London let down its hair, and
it did, as well as it knows how to, I guess.

. . . . . About 2:30 I took a walk, went down by Buckingham
Palace. There was a big crowd in front there, and at three
Churchill’s speech was broadcast over loudspeakers, and the king
and queen came out on their balcony, at which the crowd started
cheering. It was quite a sight! I walked on down towards Whitehall,
but the crowds coming out from there were so big that I cut up to
Trafalgar Square and then to Picadilly Circus and then back here.
Trafalgar and Picadilly were jammed with people, in fact all the
streets around there were, the rest of London must be deserted
today. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, singing and
making noise. They’ve been buzzing this town all afternoon with
four engine bombers coming over at roof top level, slightly distracting!

. . . . . The searchlights were all on, and some buildings had been
flood lit, the front of the Dorchester Hotel was, and it really looked
good. Down on Picadilly they had a bonfire going and were dancing
a conga around it. The streets were still jam packed up til about
two when I got home. Even then I could hear a crowd down on the
street raising hell til I fell asleep, which was about ten seconds after
I turned off the light. I was dead tired after all the walking I did! It
was quite a night, I suppose there was more celebration here than
any other place in the world last night, and it’s kind of nice to have
seen it. . . . . . . The town really went wild last nite, and after being
the chief target for bombing the last 5 years or so, I don’t blame them. . . . . . . . . . .

From New Year’s Eve 1945 Monday: My darling wife; Just a few
more hours to go and this year will be over, and ‘46 will be with us,
a new year and a better year, ‘cause we will be together through
most of it. So lets drink a toast now to ‘45, it could have been, but
it wasn’t!

It was a year lost to me, one meaningless ‘cause we weren’t
together. The only value that I can see in it is that it brought us
closer together, while keeping us apart. A lot happened in ‘45, the
end of two wars, that led us to where we are now, only two
months apart. But there were 365 wasted days and nights, and
those are hard to forget and ignore. However, I’m sure that all
this time apart will fade into nothing when we are together again.
And we can take up where we left off so long ago, wiser, but just
as much in love. Darling I’ve missed you so much, and all this
time the only thing that has mattered to me is that we are man
and wife, and that some day we will be together again.

Well, now that day is rapidly approaching, after all, what is two
months, when you compare it with thirty, or thirty one, as it will
be by then, thirty one, plus, months and days and nights that are
gone and will never return, but will leave us wiser in the know-
ledge of how much our love and being together means to us.
What did Omar Kyhan say, “The moving finger writes, and having
writ, moves on. And all your piety nor wit can lure it back to
cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.” But
what is left unsaid is that the moving finger leaves a blazing
message that is indelible in our hearts and will serve as a
reminder later that life together is heaven, and apart it is hell.
Well, two more months of hell, and we will be together again,
and that promise of things to come, and a definite date will
carry us on wings that will make the time fly. . . . . . . . . . . . .

From Feb. 1, 1946 Friday: . . . . . (at the cocktail party) I met
Mrs. Roosevelt, Senators Connally and Townsend, General
Ridgeway, & the judge who has been proposed by the U.S.
for a seat on the UN court. Of course Mr. Walker was there too. .